BF2S Forums The Age of Cheap Oil is Over

Dilbert_X wrote:

Now do the figures for nuclear.

DrunkFace wrote:

Here's some maths for you on nuclear power.

1Kg of pure uranium-235 generates about 24,000,000 Kwh
Unfortunately only 0.72% of uranium is 235.
Currently there is known to be 5,404,000,000 kg of natural uranium.
Meaning we can create about 933,811,200,000,000 Kwh
Today's world power usage per year is 143,851,000,000,000 kwh

Meaning nuclear power would run out in 6.5 years given full conversion to nuclear power. Nuclear is all well and good, but it not in any shape or form a long term sustainable method of power generation.

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf62.html wrote:

Thorium is a naturally-occurring, slightly radioactive metal discovered in 1828 by the Swedish chemist Jons Jakob Berzelius, who named it after Thor, the Norse god of thunder. It is found in small amounts in most rocks and soils, where it is about three times more abundant than uranium.

Thorium, as well as uranium, can be used as a nuclear fuel. Although not fissile itself, Th-232 will absorb slow neutrons to produce uranium-233 (U-233)a, which is fissile (and long-lived). The irradiated fuel can then be unloaded from the reactor, the U-233 separated from the thorium, and fed back into another reactor as part of a closed fuel cycle. Alternatively, U-233 can be bred from thorium in a blanket, the U-233 separated, and then fed into the core.

In one significant respect U-233 is better than uranium-235 and plutonium-239, because of its higher neutron yield per neutron absorbed.

Last edited by Cheeky_Ninja06 (2011-05-04 02:18:33)

Cheeky_Ninja06 wrote:

DrunkFace wrote:

Here's some maths for you on nuclear power.

1Kg of pure uranium-235 generates about 24,000,000 Kwh
Unfortunately only 0.72% of uranium is 235.
Currently there is known to be 5,404,000,000 kg of natural uranium.
Meaning we can create about 933,811,200,000,000 Kwh
Today's world power usage per year is 143,851,000,000,000 kwh

Meaning nuclear power would run out in 6.5 years given full conversion to nuclear power. Nuclear is all well and good, but it not in any shape or form a long term sustainable method of power generation.

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf62.html wrote:

Thorium is a naturally-occurring, slightly radioactive metal discovered in 1828 by the Swedish chemist Jons Jakob Berzelius, who named it after Thor, the Norse god of thunder. It is found in small amounts in most rocks and soils, where it is about three times more abundant than uranium.

Thorium, as well as uranium, can be used as a nuclear fuel. Although not fissile itself, Th-232 will absorb slow neutrons to produce uranium-233 (U-233)a, which is fissile (and long-lived). The irradiated fuel can then be unloaded from the reactor, the U-233 separated from the thorium, and fed back into another reactor as part of a closed fuel cycle. Alternatively, U-233 can be bred from thorium in a blanket, the U-233 separated, and then fed into the core.

In one significant respect U-233 is better than uranium-235 and plutonium-239, because of its higher neutron yield per neutron absorbed.

Nuclear tech is still relatively young and is still developing